Theatre Calgary’s The Play That Goes Wrong, done right
By Ilana van der Merwe, September 17 2024—
With a set that has been set to fall apart, spotlights bursting into sparks and actors forgetting lines, falling from platforms and strangling each other from time to time, The Play That Goes Wrong could not have gone more right.
Running its Calgary leg at the Max Bell theater from Sept. 3-29, The Play That Goes Wrong is receiving high praise for making use of chaos to deliver a night full of comedy. With the script — written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields — calling for a monstrously complex set dependent on highly talented and trained professionals, resources from Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg were used to bring us this masterwork.
Before the first line of the play is read, actors work alongside audience members seated within the house to build atmosphere. From mopping up spilled buckets, drilling fallen set pieces back to their respective places and roping stage equipment from balconies, the vision of this artistic direction foreshadows the play’s demise: all in reach of a highly involved and invested audience. All this is puzzled together with the lead of Edmonton Based set designer, Beyata Hackborn and Director Dennis Garnhum.
The gag of The Play That Goes Wrong is the art of mistake. Behind a play seemingly going perfectly wrong, is an incredibly timed, rehearsed and polished performance creating a series of unexpected turns leaving the audience enthralled. The play itself is set within a play: The Murder at Haversham Manor. This setup provides the actors the opportunity to present a fictitious play in order to separate themselves from their fictitious cast to portray the struggle of actors grasping for ways to mitigate what is quoted from the script to be “the worst night of their [lives]”.
Alexander Ariate performs as Jonathan, who is an actor playing a dead body for nearly 5 scenes. It is mind- boggling to imagine how much control it must take to be thrown, stepped on and dropped.
Honey Pham plays stage-hand Annie, who is ‘unwillingly’ dragged into the performance when the prima donna of the cast is done off with. Their presentation of a timid personality portraying the 1920s melodramatic-heiress stereotype was extremely well done.
The range of comedy this play presents is astounding. From slapstick comedy to situational comedy, the kinds of jokes thrown at the audience never get old. It can be challenging to keep a high energy and fast paced comedy from becoming too brash, but the combination of comedic timing presented by actors and clean technology cues executed by the lighting and stage crew kept each punchline fresh.
A night with Theatre Calgary has the reputation to be memorable, but between catching one’s breath between laughing fits and gasping when backdrops crash or actors go flying, The Play That Goes Wrong has set Theatre Calgary at a new caliber. By using talent from across Manitoba and Alberta, Theatre Calgary has managed to craft a show that can not be missed.
Check out Theatre Calgary’s Website for information, tickets and more.